Lectionary Calendar
Friday, April 17th, 2026
the Second Week after Easter
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

Douay-Rheims Bible

1 Kings 6:20

Now the oracle was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in height. And he covered it, and overlaid it with most pure gold. And the altar also he covered with cedar.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Altar;   Gold;   Temple;   Thompson Chain Reference - Solomon;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Holy of Holies;   Temple, the First;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - New Jerusalem;   Revelation, Theology of;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Altar;   Cedar;   Gold;   Oracle;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Gold;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Art and Aesthetics;   Temple of Jerusalem;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Altar;   Israel;   Jerusalem;   Palm Tree;   Shewbread;   Solomon;   Temple;   Text, Versions, and Languages of Ot;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - House (2);   New Jerusalem;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Oracle;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Tabernacle, the;   Hebrew Monarchy, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Altar;   Forepart;   Gold;   Goldsmith;   Incense;   Shewbread, Table of;   Temple;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Altar;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Incense;   Metals;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The interior of the sanctuary was thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty feet high; he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the cedar altar.
Hebrew Names Version
Within the oracle was [a space of] twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height of it; and he overlaid it with pure gold: and he covered the altar with cedar.
King James Version
And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.
English Standard Version
The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid an altar of cedar.
New Century Version
This inner room was thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty feet high. He covered this room with pure gold, and he also covered the altar of cedar.
New English Translation
The inner sanctuary was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high. He plated it with gold, as well as the cedar altar.
Amplified Bible
The Holy of Holies was twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in height (a cube), and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the cedar altar [with gold].
New American Standard Bible
The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in height; and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also paneled the altar with cedar.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And the place of the oracle within was twentie cubites long, and twentie cubites broad, and twentie cubites hie, and hee couered it with pure golde, and couered the altar with cedar.
Legacy Standard Bible
Now the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in height, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the altar with cedar.
Contemporary English Version
This room was thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty feet high, and it was lined with pure gold. There were also gold chains across the front of the most holy place. The inside of the temple, as well as the cedar altar in the most holy place, was covered with gold.
Complete Jewish Bible
This sanctuary was thirty-five feet long, wide and high; and it was overlaid with pure gold. In front of it he set an altar, which he covered with cedar.
Darby Translation
And the oracle within was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof; and he overlaid it with pure gold; and he overlaid the cedar-wood altar—
Easy-to-Read Version
This room was 20 cubits long, 20 cubits wide, and 20 cubits high. Solomon covered this room with pure gold. He also covered the cedar altar with gold.
George Lamsa Translation
And the length of the holy place was twenty cubits, and the breadth was twenty cubits, and the height was twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with pure gold; and he covered the altar with gold.
Good News Translation
This inner room was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high, all covered with pure gold. The altar was covered with cedar panels.
Lexham English Bible
In front, the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold and covered the altar with cedar.
Literal Translation
And the face of the Holy of Holies was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in height. And he overlaid it with refined gold, and overlaid the altar with cedar.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And before the quere (which was twentye cubites longe, twentye cubytes brode, and twentye cubytes hye, and ouerlayed with pure golde) he syled the altare with Ceder.
American Standard Version
And within the oracle was a space of twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof; and he overlaid it with pure gold: and he covered the altar with cedar.
Bible in Basic English
And the inmost room was twenty cubits square and twenty cubits high, plated over with clear gold, and he made an altar of cedar-wood, plating it with gold.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the quier before was twentie cubites long, & twentie cubites in breadth, and twentie cubites in height: And he couered it with pure golde, and boorded the aulter with Cedar.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And before the Sanctuary which was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof, overlaid with pure gold, he set an altar, which he covered with cedar.
King James Version (1611)
And the Oracle in the forepart, was twenty cubits in length and twentie cubites in breadth, and twentie cubites in the height thereof: and hee ouerlayd it with pure golde, and so couered the Altar which was of Cedar.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
and a chamber over both the pillars, and above the sides an addition equal to the chamber in width.
English Revised Version
And within the oracle was [a space of] twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof; and he overlaid it with pure gold: and he covered the altar with cedar.
Berean Standard Bible
The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Sotheli Goddis answeryng place hadde twenti cubitis of lengthe, and twenti cubitis of breede, and twenti cubitis of hiyte; and he hilide, and clothide it with pureste gold; but also he clothide the auter with cedre.
Young's Literal Translation
And before the oracle [is] twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits [is] its height; and he overlayeth it with gold refined, and overlayeth the altar with cedar.
Update Bible Version
And in front of the oracle was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in the height thereof; and he overlaid it with pure gold: and he covered the altar with cedar.
Webster's Bible Translation
And the oracle in the forepart [was] twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the hight of it, and he overlaid it with pure gold; and [so] covered the altar [which was of] cedar.
World English Bible
Within the oracle was [a space of] twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height of it; and he overlaid it with pure gold: and he covered the altar with cedar.
New King James Version
The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid it with pure gold, and overlaid the altar of cedar.
New Living Translation
This inner sanctuary was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high. He overlaid the inside with solid gold. He also overlaid the altar made of cedar.
New Life Bible
The most holy place was as long as ten long steps, as wide as ten long steps, and more than five times taller than a man. He covered it with pure gold. And he covered the altar with cedar.
New Revised Standard
The interior of the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high; he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the altar with cedar.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, the interior of the shrine, was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in height, and he overlaid it, with pure gold, - and overlaid the altar with cedar.
Revised Standard Version
The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high; and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also made an altar of cedar.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in height, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the altar with cedar.

Contextual Overview

15 And he built the walls of the house on the inside, with boards of cedar, from the floor of the house to the top of the walls, and to the roofs, he covered it with boards of cedar on the inside: and he covered the floor of the house with planks of fir. 16 And he built up twenty cubits with boards of cedar at the hinder part of the temple, from the floor to the top: and made the inner house of the oracle to be the holy of holies. 17 And the temple itself, before the doors of the oracle, was forty cubits long. 18 And all the house was covered within with cedar, having the turnings, and the joints thereof artfully wrought, and carvings projecting out: all was covered with boards of cedar: and no stone could be seen in the wall at all. 19 And he made the oracle in the midst of the house, in the inner part, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. 20 Now the oracle was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in height. And he covered it, and overlaid it with most pure gold. And the altar also he covered with cedar. 21 And the house before the oracle he overlaid with most pure gold, and fastened on the plates with nails of gold. 22 And there was nothing in the temple that was not covered with gold: the whole altar of the oracle he covered also with gold. 23 And he made in the oracle two cherubims of olive tree, of ten cubits in height. 24 One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the cherub was five cubits: that is, in all ten cubits, from the extremity of one wing to the extremity of the other wing.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

twenty cubits: 1 Kings 6:2, 1 Kings 6:3

pure: Heb. shut up

the altar: 1 Kings 6:22, 1 Kings 7:48, Exodus 30:1-3

Reciprocal: Exodus 25:11 - General Exodus 25:24 - General 1 Kings 5:6 - cedar trees 1 Kings 6:16 - built them 2 Chronicles 3:7 - overlaid 2 Chronicles 3:8 - the most holy 2 Chronicles 29:16 - the inner part Ezekiel 41:4 - twenty cubits Ezekiel 41:22 - altar Haggai 2:8 - General Revelation 21:21 - pure

Cross-References

Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth.
Genesis 2:19
And the Lord God having formed out of the ground all the beasts of the earth, and all the fowls of the air, brought them to Adam to see what he would call them: for whatsoever Adam called any living creature the same is its name.
Genesis 6:8
But Noe found grace before the Lord.
Genesis 6:11
And the earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity.
Genesis 6:12
And when God had seen that the earth was corrupted (for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth),
Genesis 6:16
Thou shalt make a window in the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish the top of it: and the door of the ark thou shalt set in the side: with lower, middle chambers, and third stories shalt thou make it.
Genesis 6:20
Of fowls according to their kind, and of beasts in their kind, and of every thing that creepeth on the earth according to its kind: two of every sort shall go in with thee, that they may live.
John 5:40
And you will not come to me that you may have life.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the oracle in the forepart,.... Which stood in the forepart of the temple, before a man's face as he entered into it, and went on; or the forepart of the holy of holies, next to the holy place, was of the dimensions as follows, when the back part of it might be higher at least, and be equal to the holy place, even thirty feet; the forepart being lower, and left open to let in the light of the candlesticks, and the smoke of the incense, out of the holy place: this

[was] twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and was a perfect square, and as the most holy place may be an emblem of the church triumphant, it may denote the perfection of its heavenly state; so the new Jerusalem is a foursquare, Revelation 21:16;

and he overlaid it with pure gold; make it rich, glorious, and magnificent, and may denote the glory of the heavenly state, Revelation 21:21; and so Florus z, the Roman historian, calls it the golden heaven, as it were, into which Pompey went, and saw the great secret of the Jewish nation, the ark:

and [so] covered the altar [which was of] cedar; the altar of incense, which is here mentioned, because it was near the most holy place, 1 Kings 6:22; this altar by Moses was made of shittim wood, but Solomon's was of cedar it seems; unless, as the words will bear to be rendered, "he covered the altar with cedar" a; though made of shittim wood, it had a covering of cedar over it; or if of stone, such a covering was on it, that it might better receive the gold which was afterwards put upon it.

z De Gest. Roman. l. 3. c. 5. a יצף ארז "operuit cedro", Montanus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The fore part - Perhaps “the interior.”

And so covered ... - Rather, “and he covered the altar (of incense) with cedar.” The altar was doubtless of stone, and was covered with cedar in preparation for the overlaying with gold. This overlaying was not gilding, but the attachment of thin plates of gold, which had to be fastened on with small nails. Such a mode of ornamentation was common in Babylonia, in Assyria, and in Media.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile